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Open beta review
HappyFunBall
Member UncommonPosts: 221
Long story short, if you're 12-15, you'll probably like this game for the funky cel-shaded graphics, other than that, don't even waste your time.
I leveled up to 26 and the entire game up to this point has been nothing but the following:
A - Pick up a quest:
1) Talk to quest-giver again (seriously) for exp
2) Fed-ex something
3) Kill x monsters (and/or return what they drop)
4) Farm x amount of items off the ground
B - Travel back to questgiver or another NPC
C - Turn in quest and get reward (exp/cash/item)
D - Start at A again - travel back to either the same NPC or travel somewhere new, to another NPC
That's seriously about it. The game for me has been 90% traveling. Travel from quest-giver to quest-giver, wash, rinse, repeat.
There's almost nothing else to this game. There's "pets" at level 30, but I heard so many people complaining about them, I didn't bother. There's some form of crafting and/or item enhancement - zzzzz, at this point, who cares.
There NO challenge to the combat. I died once in 26 levels, because I made the mistake of attacking a boss (like an Elite in WoW - same level, but MUCH stronger than you are). There was also no way of knowing this in advance. Unlike almost all mobs up to this level, it was one of the few to aggro. There's no sense of danger (up to this level) running through fields upon fields of infested with 0 AI-based mobs.
Even if you like to grind, ALL the exp is in the quests. Grinding is challenge-less, boring, and beyond repetitive. Monsters pop almost as soon as you kill them, and they are strewn about quite randomly in senselessly chosen areas.
The geography is "retarded" to say the least. They had to me smoking something STRONG to come up with those maps. Maybe it's based on Chinese mythology.. who knows/cares? How many Americans are actually familiar with Chinese mythology?
The translation is horrible, as you've come to expect from Asian f2p games. The dialog is also nonsensical as well, like an American 5 or 6 year old wrote it. *Everything* is lost in the translation.
You "feel" exactly the same, and even look almost identical (or purely identical) when putting new armor on. So getting new gear isn't even interesting.
There are little to no sound effects at all. No sounds different monsters make as you approach them. No footstep sounds, and horribly few combat/attack/spell effects, and even those are muffled and mastered at a ridiculously low volume (even with the slider at the top). The UI could have used some sound effects too.
I could go on, but who cares. I've already spent too much time talking about this Recycle Bin fodder.
IF you actually enjoy this game, ALL the power to you. Oh and bless you for keeping trash games like this constantly appearing on the horizon.
Comments
Did you copy/paste this from a Vanguard beta review?
Ok once again
. 1its the first day of OPEN BETA!! and as far as i go except for a few dialogs that need to be translated i didn't find one bug,all quests delivered and everything works just fine.2 yeah it gets laggy from time to time but that will be taken care of and you can take that to the bank. I have played many MMO for the last 2 years and most of them from OP and none have ever been so bugless and have a decent comunity.Overall a realy good F2P with some issues that will be taken care of by the time they launch this game .So play,enjoy,have fun this game got it down guys see you all in the game 
Sorry, you cannot use the "its beta" excuse here. What he is describing here are inherent game design flaws.
1 mob AI is non-existent
2- combat is far too easy
3- animations are boring
4- quests designs are boring too
Sorry, but this stuff will not improve no matter how long you give them. It will be the same a year from now.
These are the core game mechanics and if they are not good there is nothing you can do to save them short of redesigning the game.
Its a shame too because the artists did an excellent job with the artwork only to have it wasted on crappy same old Asian mentality in game design that we see time and time again.
Amazing CGI toons: http://www.damapro.com/ & http://www.renderosity.com/
Zu in one of the best offers I've played during the last 6 months.
1. The graphics are interesting, very detailed and build a unique atmosphere to the game - indeed they look like old chinese drawings. The game has an intense coloured world, but it won't hurt your eyes. The flying & skill animations add more spice to the mix.
2. The quests are mandatory, but unlike others have said, they're very very relaxing, because the game has a simple point and click system (click on the underlined name in the quest dialogue and your toon will automatically go where is supposed to), which will save you a lot of time - no need to wander like a lunatic looking for a specific object or NPC for hours, quite the opposite, you'll finish the quests in no time and the rewards are excellent - and because of that, the game becomes fast paced. The NPCs display a red exclamation mark when they have an available quest, and a green question mark when you have to talk to them in order to finish the quest..so nothing too confusing.
3. the drops are incredible - in the good way. Tons of upgraded gear, pots, weapons. I bought gear from a NPC just once (right at the begining of the game), everything else came from drops. You get bone (the game currency) only by selling stuff to NPC, but you won't need it too much either.
4. the events that are currently held are awesome - probably the best I've seen in ages in a F2P game: continuous increased xp (just bug old Santa for a little blessing) and very powerful items from Santa presents. The game has also a permanent system that grants you increased xp, depending on the luck granted each hour to a different animal talisman (that you're required to choose from when the game starts).
5. the maps are not big at all, but they were designed in a somehow intricate way, probably so they'd allow spectacular flying routes. And I must say I can't get enough of those flying animations, they're sooo cool!
6. the skill & talent trees: well, that's the fun and interesting part of the game; you see, in Zu you don't get character points that need to be distributed to the various personal options. You get skills as you level, you can raise the lvl of the skills, and the thing that would make you different from other is the way you decide to spend the points on talents. I'd say the game start at lvl 30, because that's when you'll start receiving points for that...every 3 levels. That will force you to really focus on what you're doing and to think what road to follow. Now about the skills: at first you get some decent and after some levels even effective too skills, but the minute you'll receive the first AOEs, you'll begin to discover the true power of your toon - they're very strong, impressive looking, and most of all, destructive. You can't help yourself thinking how the PvP batles would look like, because these AOEs will transform you in a killing machine.
7. mobs: I get the feeling the low level mobs are not aggressive on pupose so you'd get a chance to get used to the game and its mechanics (it can be confusing at first, the link between maps and the rides are a bit chaotic). I don't know how the higher level mobs react, but I have a feeling they're not as easy to kill. They do have specific sounds though.
8. last, but not least by al lmeans: the music - without a doubt the most beautiful I've ever heard in a chinese type MMO (I also like the soundtrack of Hero or 9 Dragons, but Zu's is superior - very well composed too - trust me, I know). The music makes training, questing and exploring very relaxing and enjoyable and add a lot to the overall atmosphere.
To conclude: it is a surprisingly balanced game, almost bug free (which really justifies going from Alpha straight to OB), with moderate lag (only in crowded areas), with a unique world and atmosphere. If you like the asian MMOs, you'll love Zu
You actually consider this good game design?What you have described is not a game; it's an insult to the player's intelligence.
Replacing FedEx quests with AUTOMATED FedEx quests is not the answer.
Ok 1st,, I like PvP..
But Zu is the most unbalanced game for PvP i've ever seen.. great for PvPers.. terrible for everyone else.. considering the devs public talks focus on the story, hardly a mention of PvP kinda misleading.
Your safe until level 30.. then you die....repeatedly...
Do NOT blame the players, do NOT say awww it's a beta..This is the game's design and how it's supposed to work.
The game it's self is mindless for the most part PvP is the only fun thing to do..
As long as you understand your gonna die...
a lot..
Understand your gonna drop your equip and have to pay to repair.
If your cool with that, DL it..
If you plan to play, Power level so you can gank too or your left behind..
Being an ex hardcore WoW player (big guild, raid raid raid...) I wanted to see what else was out there in the mmorpg world.
I had a stint at a few free and beta mmorpg's including recent Zu Online but I have to say they are all a wate of time.
The point and click interface is different, but after a while you feel detached from the game and it gets very repetitive quickly. One of the aspects I enjoyed about WoW was the amount of freedom you had with your character and the environment - there wasn't a place you couldn't get to if you tried.
The problem with games like Zu Online is the limited amount of freedom you have, your stuck in a narrow band of the game world.
I won't repeat what has already been said above but the bottom line is that all of these far east games are based on the same game engine with a few tweaks. This is the same game engine that existed in DAOC and I am pretty sure they licenced the engine.. if they didn't then the developers did a good job of copying all of the out-dated flaws of the game engine.
Had I not played the likes of WoW I would have probably like Zu Online but after playing Zu, Archlord and the various other spawns of the same game engine I have yet to find anything original.
Zu Online has a great concept as far as the subject matter goes. It could have been a really well polished title were it not for the crap game engine and the repetitive game play.
Graphically all these games are dull, the players seem to float around the game world, there is no sense of actually being immersed in the game world. The fight sequences are just that, sequences. You have no real control over the fight, just a case of button bashing.
Sure you could argue WoW and to some extent Everquest II is the same but if you have played WoW serious for any length of time you will realise the fighting mechanics are actually really well done giving you enough freedom to use the environment to your advantage as well as applying some strategy to the fight.
I am now playing Everquest II, it's not as polished as WoW and has many of the failings of games like Zu Online but it's still better than the stuff coming out.
These guys need to build their own game engine that is bang up to date and take notes from WoW, end of the day it's an successful mmorpg and thats not down to content alone but to the well polished game engine. It looks simplistic and cartoony but it offers a level of immersion that others simply do not.
If you take a serious look at all of the current crop of far east titles including Zu Online you will note they are all using the SAME game engine that has all the hallmarks of the clunky DAOC engine period.
I am hoping WAR turns out to be different as I want to try something new, done WoW and got the t-shirt, now want something original and a little grown up.
If the player is that inteligent, then surely he/she must have understood immediately that quests in Zu replace (at least for the 1st half of the game) the usual grinding - that's why they must be simple and fast to solve - in fact, they must be as simple as clicking some mobs to train in order to get xp. That's why you also have the auto trace. Most of Zu's maps are like little mazes and it could take a while before findind the right mob or NPC to complete a quest...and if you don't solve it, you can't level up. You get the picture. Sadly (for some) the game is centered around pvp; the quests provide xp to level so you'd be able to hold your own - what you should understand is that the members of the most powerful guilds (the ones that can control the various map pillars) can afk level, so the others must be able to keep up the pace (thus being able to quickly finish the quests).
And ppl, for the love of God, stop comparing Zu (or any other game) with WOW: we got it, there's no better game like that one...now why the hell you're still not playing that game, if it's that good?